The present disclosure relates to a powered handpiece for driving surgical tools. More particularly, it relates to a check valve vented sterilizable powered surgical handpiece.
Powered surgical handpieces are commonly used in many medical specialties to drive surgical tools for performing various diverse functions. Many handpieces are reusable and may be cleaned or reprocessed via various techniques such as manual or automated washing or steam sterilization. Steam sterilization often involves placing a handpiece in an autoclave whereby the handpiece is subjected to high pressure steam while manual or automated washing involves rinsing, soaking or spraying a device with water and may involve the use of detergents or disinfectants. Over time, handpiece performance can degrade and/or handpieces might ultimately fail due to repeated washing and/or steam sterilization cycles. Performance degradation and handpiece failure can be due to handpiece seals, intended to prevent ingress of steam or water, gradually deteriorating or becoming damaged or weakened thereby allowing gas or liquid, such as steam or steam condensate from the washing or sterilization process, to collect within the handpiece. Thus, the seals intended to prevent ingress of water or steam during a wash or sterilization cycle serve to prevent egress of condensate or other contaminants from the interior of the handpiece. Over time the water, steam, condensate or other contaminants may accelerate corrosion of the internal handpiece components and/or may accelerate electromigration of internal electronic components. Therefore, the need exists for a means to vent gas, liquid or other contaminants contained within a handpiece, particularly during a sterilization cycle.